A GOOD AGE: Six of the Hurlburt siblings are going strong

Tuesday

May 6, 2014 at 1:49 AMMay 6, 2014 at 5:20 AM

Six of the eight Hurlburt siblings profiled nationally four years ago for their longevity are holding their own. Ages 83 to 100 now, for a total of 555 years, they include Helen Caldwell, 92, in Hingham and Peg Brack, 83, in Weymouth. Originally there were 11.

Sue Scheible The Patriot Ledger @sues_ledger

HINGHAM -- ‘Hi, there. Saw your profile of the Hurlburt siblings in Seniors World Chronicle. We are producing a show on active centenarians or how to live to be 100 and would love to get in touch with the siblings.”

The email was from a researcher with “The Katie Show” in New York. It referred to a story I wrote in March 2010 about 11 siblings, eight of whom were enjoying remarkable longevity and had drawn national attention for it. The story was reprinted in a seniors publication.

Of the 11 Hurlburt siblings, eight remained in 2010 – five sisters and three brothers, ages 79 to 96, all active and healthy. Six lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Together, they totaled 702 years.

Three were from the South Shore: Peter Hurlburt in Braintree was 81, Helen Caldwell in Hingham was 88 and Peggy Brack in Weymouth was 77.

Their story had been covered in Time magazine; Bostonia, the Boston University alumnae magazine; and local newspapers, and on local cable TV, They were also interviewed by the National Institute on Aging and the Long Life Family Study at the BU Medical Center.

Four years later, how has life treated them?

When I called Hurlburt, his wife, Joan, answered. Sadly, she told me he passed away fairly suddenly last September, at age 84, from cancer. It was a shock; he was the healthiest, everyone thought, and so lively, one of the younger ones. The others, she said, were all doing quite well.

“We lost two,” Helen Caldwell, now 92, said when I reached her at Linden Ponds in Hingham, where I interviewed her in 2010. Her sister Muriel Gillooly of West Roxbury died in 2011 at age 91. She was also very lively, described as a “hot ticket” who was enjoying her celebrity when I met her at her 90th birthday party in 2010.

“We all miss them both,” Caldwell said.

The good news is the other six, including Caldwell, are holding their own. The three oldest are Agnes, who is 100, in New Hampshire; James, who is 95, in California; and Mildred, 97, in Shrewsbury; followed by Helen; Walter, 88, in California, and Peg, 83 in Weymouth.

A grand total of 555 years, and a sign of the times. People 90 and older are the fastest-growing age group in the country now, “60 Minutes” said Sunday.

“We’re all pretty healthy,” Caldwell said. “Agnes doesn’t even use a walker, or a cane, and she’s 100! Everything is fine. I never thought I’d be able to keep going this way.”

She watched the “60 Minutes” segment with particular interest.

“My daughter tells me I can have a little red wine, but I never think of it,” she said.

Caldwell seem unchanged, just as energetic and outgoing as she was four years ago. She volunteers in the Treasure Chest resale shop at Linden Ponds, where the proceeds go into the scholarship fund for high school students who work at the retirement community.

“They’re wonderful,” she said, talking about the students.

She has done all sorts of hand crafts throughout her life, and she still sews and makes quilts. The next quilt will go to her next great-grandchild.

One change: she gave up driving, to be on the safe side.

“I love to keep busy, and I walk around the whole premises – about a mile – and I try to do it every day,” she said. “I love to get out and walk in the cold. ...In the summer, I walk inside.”

The Hurlburt siblings are still part of a longevity study. Every year on their birthdays, BU researchers call with about 20 minutes of questions.

“Most of it is a kind of a mental quiz,” Caldwell said.

The siblings’ father died at age 45, but it was from tuberculosis. Their mother died at 63, but two aunts lived to ages 100 and 102.

Caldwell’s theory about their longevity: “It just must be our genes.”

Their social connectedness is as strong as ever.

“We all keep in touch,” Caldwell said.

And that, geriatricians say, is another important ingredient.

Reach Sue Scheible at scheible@ledger.com, 617-786-7044, or The Patriot Ledger, P.O. Box 699159, Quincy 02269-9159. Read her Good Age blog on our website. Follow her on Twitter @ sues_ledger.